Lacrosse Teams Grow, Thrive
Increased Turnout Forces Some Cuts

By Paul Tenorio
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, March 16, 2008

When Broad Run senior Eric Madigan first attended tryouts for the Spartans' lacrosse program in 2005, he recalled, 28 players attended. There was no junior varsity team, and no players were cut.

This year, Broad Run had close to 60 players at tryouts, and coaches were forced to cut players from the varsity program and from junior varsity. This is just one example of the exponential growth of lacrosse at Loudoun County high schools. Coaches from many schools report making their first cuts ever, and others say turnout has increased from as low as 25 to as high as 80 in just a few years.

The increased turnout is a result of the intersection of one of the country's fastest growing sports with one of the fastest growing counties, and it's a trend that started in Loudoun's youth leagues.

"It was 15 years ago Judge Tom Horn started the first teams through the YMCA, and it was just kind of kids from all ages that played on that first team. We didn't have much equipment or anything," Tom Duggan recalled.

Duggan and five associates broke away from the YMCA after two years to form a league through the Northern Virginia Youth Lacrosse League. They started with three teams: two seventh- and eighth-grade teams and one team of sixth-graders and under.

"It was a mess," Duggan said. But "it was an exponential growth every year. We were growing extremely rapidly."

Duggan's league soon had to split into the Eastern and Western Loudoun lacrosse leagues. The two are the largest lacrosse leagues in Northern Virginia, with 600 participants in the ELLL and Western's numbers surpassing 500.

The growth of those youth leagues has had an effect on the county's high schools, not just in the number of players showing up to tryouts, but also in the level of talent on the varsity and junior varsity teams.

"I'll be the first one to tell you that it's affected my program in a very positive way," Broad Run boys' coach Phil Truiett said. "A lot of it comes from the Eastern Loudoun Lacrosse League. I feel like I'm getting quality kids from those programs coming to Broad Run."

Kristen Howard, the girls' lacrosse coach at Stone Bridge, agreed with Truiett.

"It's definitely exploding now," Howard said. "I have freshmen now that have been playing for five or six years. A few years ago, that was unheard of, that girls were playing lacrosse at 9 or 10 years old. There are some really good teams in Loudoun County now."

The results have shown on the field. Two years ago, the Loudoun Valley girls' team advanced to the Virginia AAA/AA state semifinals, and the Broad Run boys lost in the Virginia AAA/AA state quarterfinals.

Last season, the Broad Run girls captured the Region II championship and made a run to the state semifinals. And this season, teams such as Briar Woods, Stone Bridge and Dominion expect to challenge Broad Run, Loudoun Valley and Heritage, the traditional front-runners.

"What's neat is the playing field is starting to level out," said Mark Madigan, Eric Madigan's father and president of the Eastern Loudoun Lacrosse League. "In the past, we've had a handful of teams that were good. But we've got some really talented coaches that have come into the area, and what I think you're going to see is some really, really good games. Instead of just having a couple of teams fighting for the district championship, you'll have five or six teams in the hunt."